Robert A. Baron holds the Spears Chair in Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. He is widely respected as a leading scholar in cognitive and social factors in entrepreneurship, and has successfully bridged two distinct academic disciplines of psychology and entrepreneurship. Most recently, he held the Bruggeman Chair of Entrepreneurship at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During his twenty-two year tenure there, Dr. Baron chaired both the Department of Psychology in the School of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Managerial Policy and Organization in the Lally School of Management and Technology in successive, overlapping terms. He also served as Interim Dean of the Lally School (2001-2002). Prior to that, he was Professor of Psychological Science at Purdue University. Dr. Baron has authored more than 130 peer reviewed papers and 45 books. He has received numerous Best Paper Awards from organizations that include the Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Division and Organizational Behavior Division, the Babson-Kauffman Conference, the American Marketing Association, and the International Association for Conflict Management; in 2008 he received AMJ’s “Best Reviewer” Award (2008), and in 2009 the Entrepreneurship Division’s “Thought-Leader” prize. He served as an Associate Editor of Management Science and has been an editor for numerous other publications that include the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Human Resource Management Review, the Journal of Business Venturing, the International Journal of Conflict Management, and Motivation and Emotion. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the top journals in entrepreneurship, business and psychology. Prof. Baron is a Fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Association for Psychological Science, and the American Psychological Association. Robert received his Ph.D. and Masters degrees from the University of Iowa, and his undergraduate degree Magna Cum Laude from the City University of New York. He has served as a Visiting Professor to numerous universities that include the University of Oxford, Princeton University, University of Texas – Austin, University of Minnesota, and the University of Washington. He holds three patents, and was the founder and CEO of Innovative Environmental Products, Inc.

Education

Ph D, University of Iowa, 1968MA, University of Iowa, 1967BS, City University of New York, 1964

Publications

Robert Baron. (2017). "Income inequality:How efforts to reduce it can undermine motivation – and the pursuit of excellence". Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. 6, 2-10.

C. Amato, Robert Baron, B. Barbieri, J. Belanger & A. Pierro. (2016). "Regulatory modes and Entrepreneurship: The Mediational Role of Alertness in Small Business Success". Journal of Small Business Management, (Forthcoming).

G. Adomzda & Robert Baron. (2013). "The role of affective biasing in commercializing new ideas. The role of affective biasing in commercializing new ideas. ". Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. , 1-17.

Robert Baron, K.M. Hmieleski & J. Tang. (2011). "Entrepreneurs’ dispositional positive affect and firm performance: When there can be “too much of a good thing". Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 5, 111-119.

Robert Baron. (2009). "Effectual Versus Predictive Logics in Entrepreneurial Decision Making: Differences Between Experts and Novices. Does Experience in Starting New Ventures Change the Way Entrepreneurs Think? Perhaps, But for Now "Caution" is Essential". Journal of Business Venturing, 24, 310-315.

K. Hmieleski & Robert Baron. (2009). "Entrepreneurs' Optimism and New Venture Performance: A Social Cognitive Perspective". Academy of Management Journal,

Robert Baron, G.D. Markman & M. Bollinger. (2006). "Exporting Social Psychology: Effects of Attractiveness on Perceptions of Entrepreneurs, Their Ideas for New Products, and Their Financial Success". Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 36, 467-492.

Robert Baron. (2006). "Opportunity Recognition as Pattern Recognition: How Entrepreneurs "Connect the Dots" to Identify New Business Opportunities". Academy of Management Perspectives, 20, 104-119.